Self improvement is a life long journey that requires daily labor.

Every creative person has some kind of process they go through when they start doing a project. Some are super organized others are utter chaos. Most of us seem to fall in the middle somewhere when it comes to the process.

One thing that would help me become a better designer is organizing my chaos better and having a more direct plan of attack. Documenting how I got to where I ended up and my reasoning as to why I made certain decisions along the way. It is helpful to document this for future employers, clients or even just self criticism in hopes of self refinement

I tend to start on paper, lots of sketches, wire-frames, ligatures or whatever it may be that I am working on. Lists, maybe some words, phrases etc that will be helpful in my development. I do tend to get distracted a little bit at this point. Using your hands to create allows for so many different looks, the possibilities are endless. So to go off on tangents and exploring looks that upon a stricter self criticism would prove to be pointless, can certainly be a better usage of your time. So make sure you audit yourself to know where you can be most and least productive at teach stage of development.

Just the same when I get to a computer...I try to be almost too thorough. Exploring typefaces that often have no business even being explored. Just to say I was thorough in my exploration. Again wasting time in favor of finding some pile of gold in a giant pile of garbage.

When I finally have a typeface or look decided this is where I really start to make some moves. I find that I can make different ligatures, spacing, angles, cuts etc etc to quickly develop a mark or layout into something that by this part only needs refinement.

So somewhere from the beginning to the middle is in need of refinement. I tend to get a bit scattered brained in my direction, the scope is a bit too wide. If I could become a bit more organized in my process, I could do better and faster work.

between each of these steps I tend to just toss my process out. Old sketches, or major breakthrough. I will delete the beginning stuff simply because it does not look good in favor of the finished product that looks great. Which ultimately ignores how you got there. Sometimes the process is the most important part.

Self audit yourself and process. To each their own but knowing your strengths and weaknesses is great insight. It is not wise to recognize character flaws and issues and just ignore them...or worse...except them simply as what makes you unique.

Self improvement is a life long journey that requires daily labor.

Make better Photoshop selections.

One thing that has really pushed my photo editing and manipulation game to the next level is my ability to select exactly what I want and need.

Those little "marching ants" is what is keep you back from some exemplary work. Even with the best typographical, composition, color theory and illustration skills. If you are making crap selections for your photography then it will painfully show through.

A lot of young designers do not put enough practice into selections simply because it is hard and tedious. Do not get me wrong, it sure can be. Understanding photo resolution, how the selection lines interact with the pixels, how to adjust your feathering, which tools are used to create the best selections needs etc. It can be pretty daunting for a newbie, let alone someone who has been at it for awhile. But with many hours of practice it is well worth the pay off.

The basic selection tools are a great way to get started. Practicing with how everything interacts with one another will help you build a quality foundation. Just getting good at those is an accomplishment.

If you want to step up your game you can learn how to use layer masks. I used masks for awhile but I found it bothersome and lacking the exactitude that I wanted and needed. At least for my liking. So i ditched that for the tried and true pen tool.

Being able to control exactly where the pen line goes has helped me create perfect selections for any type of editing need.

I cannot stress taking the time to learn the pen tool, how to use the anchors and get your ants marching just right.

But maybe you like the other tools better, maybe you have a way that is different then my own. That is wonderful. Whatever you find yourself enjoying the most is the best tool for the job.

Make amazing selections and do some beautiful edits.

Discipline > Inspiration

There is an ongoing pervasive trend throughout any community which requires hard work. This idea of constant need for inspiration and motivation.

Now, do not get me wrong. I am not here to say that these two things are not vital in our search for well, anything. But I am finding that many people are using these two ideas as the foundation for where they build their house.

Much of the life lessons that I have learned from have come from either my studies of art and design or from the world of sports and performance. Many have built some kind of false dichotomy between these two. That they are incompatible and offer little to know understanding between the two. But I would like to humbly disagree. The people tend to be pretty polarizing and at face value of no use to one another. There is so much more to the two groups then what we like to believe.

One of the major ways that these communities are almost exactly alike is their use of motivation, inspiration and discipline.

Social media is overwhelmed with every piece of content available to us through every available platform, absolutely chalk filled with motivational pieces; photo's, quotes, videos, blog posts and everything else. Some can light a fire so hot under your ass that you feel like you can jump over mountains. It can be pretty sickening and almost nauseating at all of it.

This being said in full understanding that we are all in different places in life, that we all require different things at various stages in our lives. Which is super important to understand. But I continue to say this,

Inspiration sucks it isn't your friend and often will get you no where.

Discipline is what drives the engines, which keeps you going even when gas is on E. Everyone that I try to learn from in my studies has overwhelmingly one thing in common. It is simply that they do not rely on motivation as their foundation.

We have got it backwards. Lets take a look at building a fire.

You start with small flammable pieces of wood/paper/etc, things that can get caught on fire easily. Like a match. We all know how fast a match can burn out tho, almost just as fast as it was lit. We have to quickly add other things to it, building up volume and mass for the fire to catch till we are slowly adding branches, then cut up limbs then eventually logs.

These types of fires are the ones that burn all night or even longer. Just like our own work capacity, we want to be able to burn for a long time.

The beautiful thing about these types of fires is that even the morning after and all you are left with is coals. These warm coals can be quickly turned back into a fire with some oxygen. Add some small pieces and you are back in business.

Just like anything we work super hard for in life. You need a strong base of discipline. Something that you work at and practice daily. That way if the flames ever go out or you are in fear of them doing so. All you have to do is add some inspiration (oxygen) and you are back at.

All to often people start something with just a match. They don't add anything more. There is no substance to back it up, nothing left to burn once the motivation is gone. People hit a cycle of striking another match just to have that burn out too. Rinse and repeat for any major goal.

Add to your spark and make it a glorious blaze. That way even in you darkest, laziest, uninspired moments you can find solace in being able to add a touch of motivation to send it ablaze once again.